Digest: Evolution of plasticity and its potential role in the decline of specialists

Abstract

How does plasticity evolve over relatively short timescales? Through a series of common garden and reciprocal transplant experiments, Walter et al. found distinct patterns of variation in the phenotype and gene expression for two closely related Sicilian daisy species of the genus Senecio across an elevational gradient. This suggests that adaptive divergence may produce interspecific differences in both the magnitude and direction of plasticity. The nonadaptive nature of the plasticity found in Senecio aethnensis has important implications for conservation efforts and evolutionary modeling.